50 shades of red-hot sales for Fifty Shades of Grey

Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan in Fifty Shades of Grey, which opens in cinemas on Thursday.

Thousands of moviegoers have bought tickets to the hotly anticipated Fifty Shades of Grey.

The R18 movie, due to be released on Thursday, is based on the novel by British author E.L. James and recounts a relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steele and wealthy businessman Christian Grey.

Dubbed "mummy porn", bondage and discipline, dominance and submission feature heavily in the plot.

Paramount Pictures New Zealand, which is distributing the film, said 18,370 tickets had been pre-sold by 3pm yesterday.

"It's the most pre-sales for a Paramount/Universal film in New Zealand," a spokesman said.

Both of the main cinema chains said several sessions for the film on its opening night had sold out.

"We've had extremely strong pre-sales for all ordinary Fifty Shades of Grey sessions, and particularly in Gold Class," Event Cinemas general manager Carmen Switzer said.

"There are a number of Gold Class sessions which have already sold out in that first week."

The film would be shown at all 16 Event Cinemas. Extra sessions would be held to accommodate any excess demand, Ms Switzer said.

And unlike most other films, tickets for Fifty Shades of Grey were available as far back as November.

Mark Chilvers of Hoyts Cinema said "the demand for tickets to this film has been phenomenal" and the company planned extra sessions.